A golden Australian generation may be cutting a spectacular swathe through the
sport but performance director Dave Brailsford is banishing them from his
mind as Great Britain approach the final phase of their Olympic preparations.

Britain have won more medals in Olympic cycling disciplines at this week’s Track Cycling World Championships – eight plays six – but the Australians have been dealing exclusively in gold, the final moment of triumph coming from Anna Meares in the women’s keirin on Sunday. While British Cycling's glass can be considered half full, the Australian cup is positively overflowing.

“The Aussies? I’m not interested in them, they are irrelevant,” Brailsford said. “I’m only interested in us and what we do. I don’t care what they do. What I want to think about is what this team can do and how do we win? It boils down to bike racer v bike racer, its not nation vs nation, it’s an amalgamation of individual events, it’s not a team game.

“If we didn’t have the past we had in Beijing we’d be pleased with the medals we’re taking away. I’m not sure how many other sports would have a 70-80 per cent hit rate in terms of medals. We have set the bar so high that when we don’t win gold people ask what’s going on.”

Britain’s solitary gold came from a splendid women’s team pursuit squad, including debutantes Laura Trott and Dani King, with the latter also taking a gutsy bronze in the scratch. The women’s team sprint, with Jessica Varnish as lead-off rider, also took a major step up, and Jason Kenny, only 23, is coming into his own in the individual sprint, driven by the fact that he must beat Sir Chris Hoy simply to get a start in London.

Hoy, 35, is still pacing himself a little, but a week which yielded a silver and two bronzes would still be the envy of most. He knows what is needed and the big push is just around the corner.

The negatives are that even a much weakened men’s pursuit squad should have ridden considerably better than they did.

To contest the gold next year Britain not only need Bradley Wigginsand Geraint Thomnas back, they need them back racing the World Cup series most of the winter and embedded in camp in the months immediately leading into London.

That would require Team Sky not selecting them for the Giro d'Italia in May or the Tour de France in July and it would appear that Jeremy Darroch, CEO of Sky, has indicated to Brailsford that Sky will fully support any plans Britain have for their contracted riders.

The men’s team sprint squad – bronze medal winners – are within striking distance of the French but have yet to fully do themselves justice while Victoria Pendleton’s form is up and down.

Pendleton looked good in the team sprint and fought hard in the individual sprint, when she took bronze and was the only woman to take a race off winner Anna Meares. She looked off the pace in Sunday’s keirin, however. Like Hoy, Pendleton has earned the right to prepare at her own pace but Britain will want her to hit next season running.

As for the Australians, coach Gary Sutton is not getting carried away: “We are a bit ahead of where we thought we would be but the Brits will be coming at us next season. We will remember the 2011 Worlds fondly but it is London 2012 that counts.”